‘Vaginal mesh implant has destroyed my life — it’s just so hard to go on’

STELLA Channing was a self-confessed gym junkie who really “loved life” and lived it to the absolute fullest.

Now the Perth mum-of-three is housebound and in constant excruciating pain in her vagina, rectum and legs after having a vaginal mesh implant to treat her post-childbirth prolapse.

But instead of helping her condition she has endured a living hell for the past almost six years, as the implant slowly disintegrates inside the once active 58-year-old.

What is the point to my life? I just feel like I no longer add any value anywhere, she tells Kidspot. My future looks bleak.

Removing the mesh is not an option as Stella says there s no surgeon in Australia trained in the procedure.

Only one doctor in America is trained to do a full removal but not only can I not sit for that long on a plane I can t even afford the airfare.

Stella was addicted to the gym and had just studied to become a personal trainer five months before her botched procedure. Picture: Leesa Smith Source: Supplied

What is a vaginal mesh implant?

The mesh is a hammock made from a plastic called polypropen. It has four hooks that are put into your hips to secure it to your bladder.

The idea is to help the pelvic floor muscles keep the internal organs in place, but more than 200 women have reported an adverse event to the Therapeutic Goods Administration as a result of the procedure.

In 2005, the TGA approved the use of pelvic mesh in Australia, but instead of trialling the product before making the decision, the Australian regulator simply followed the US s approval in 2002.

The TGA later admitted the approval was not mature and lacked rigour , Fairfax reported.

A month before Stella had her operation in 2011, the TGA issued a high risk warning about the Johnson Johnson mesh kit that she has.

But I only found this out after the operation. The doctor told me it was low risk, she says.

The following year, Johnson Johnson announced they would cease global supplies of meshes. However, other meshes are still being used.

Stella doesn’t even see her family much anymore because of her unbearable pain. Source: Leesa Smith Source: Supplied

More than 200 women have filed complaints

A federal Senate Inquiry is now gathering evidence into what Senator Derryn Hinch has described as one of the greatest medical scandals and abuses of mothers in Australia s history .

The inquiry is looking into just how many women are suffering from the mesh implants.

One mother who appeared on The Project described the unbearable sensation as wearing a steel tampon .

A Facebook support group for mesh-injured women has grown to more than 700 members.

I knew something was wrong when I woke up

Stella knew as soon as she woke up after the surgery that something wasn t right.

I asked them why I had holes in my buttocks I was told I was just getting tape from my vagina to my rectum. I didn t know I was going to have long arms like crochet hooks blindly going through my pelvic nerves.

Stella s mesh immediately started eroding but the surgeon had no solution to stop her bleeding and horrific pain.

The distraught mother compares the sensation to burning petrol and broken glass in both her vagina and rectum.